Jimmy Carter - The international economy

The problems Carter confronted abroad were economic as well as political.
They included the opening up of a trade deficit as Americans bought more
from other countries, especially manufactured goods from Japan and Germany
and oil from the Middle East, than those countries purchased in the United
States. In addition to working for the reduction of oil imports, the
administration pressed its allies, which now had strong economies, to buy
more American products, but, to the especially great distress of the
American automobile industry, the efforts failed to close the trade gap,
and the failure gave a boost to protectionist sentiment in the United
States. The administration also struggled unsuccessfully with a weakening
of the dollar.